Friedman Scores Points — With Stephen Walt By Aigle Middle East • December 2011 • Views: 1,113 Tom Friedman’s screed claiming that standing ovations for Israeli Prime Minister Netanyhu when he spoke before a joint session of Congress were “bought and paid for by the Israel lobby” has stirred a firestorm of negative reaction. Well, not only negative reaction. There’ve also been kudos from some quarters. Stephen Walt, co-author of the infamous The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, really likes the column. Bizarrely, he titles his Foreign Policy blog post: “Why Tom Friedman is a true friend of Israel.”